Comments for The Writingwolf: Words and Wonders https://thewritingwolf.wordpress.com
The words and wisdom of a wondering writer.Tue, 06 Aug 2019 20:26:40 +0000
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Comment on Battle Lines by Darren Lipman https://thewritingwolf.wordpress.com/2019/06/23/battle-lines/#comment-4076
Tue, 06 Aug 2019 20:26:40 +0000http://thewritingwolf.wordpress.com/?p=6989#comment-4076Thank you so much for your comment and your interest in being an ally to more people–especially today, we need more unity than ever before. If you’d like to learn more about my experiences as a Jew and how it relates to the world, I encourage you to look through my archives or search for relevant tags. Thanks again!
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Comment on Battle Lines by Clare Flourish https://thewritingwolf.wordpress.com/2019/06/23/battle-lines/#comment-4074
Sat, 03 Aug 2019 07:59:35 +0000http://thewritingwolf.wordpress.com/?p=6989#comment-4074Hello Darren. I am a trans woman who would like to be an ally to Jews. There I am reading, currently Amos Oz and Vasily Grossman, and there are trans voices to hear too, though few so prominent.

Not every intervention is “white saviour”. Men often make it all about them, women tend to be more self-effacing. There may often be no trans person able to challenge prejudice, so please do that for us. My own estimate of self-identifying trans people is 0.1% of the population and non-binary about the same again.

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Comment on Breaking the Binary by Darren Lipman https://thewritingwolf.wordpress.com/2019/06/29/breaking-the-binary/#comment-4034
Mon, 01 Jul 2019 13:57:00 +0000http://thewritingwolf.wordpress.com/?p=6994#comment-4034Another fun fact: I did some digging, and it seems that peri- is the Greek prefix meaning “surrounding,” while inter- is the Latin prefix meaning “between.” Assuming “perisex” is a more recent addition to the lexicon, it makes sense to me by thinking that “not intersex” could imply “the external matches the internal,” which could be taken as a form of “surrounding” something.

For an extra bit of fun, I found that the origin of the word “sex” is believed to be the Latin “secare,” meaning “to separate,” implying cutting something in half. So sex was first conceptualized as a binary measure. The problem with any natural binary, however, is that there aren’t many: nature prefers a continuous spectrum. It’s why calculus works so well–because change is continuous, not discrete.

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Comment on Breaking the Binary by Darren Lipman https://thewritingwolf.wordpress.com/2019/06/29/breaking-the-binary/#comment-4033
Mon, 01 Jul 2019 13:11:24 +0000http://thewritingwolf.wordpress.com/?p=6994#comment-4033Thank you. Not mentioning intersex people was an oversight I’m ashamed I missed in the four times I proofread this post. :(

I don’t normally edit posts after publishing, but I think this is an instance in which doing so is not only justified, but incredibly meaningful.

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Comment on Breaking the Binary by Cole https://thewritingwolf.wordpress.com/2019/06/29/breaking-the-binary/#comment-4030
Sat, 29 Jun 2019 18:11:19 +0000http://thewritingwolf.wordpress.com/?p=6994#comment-4030I also just want to mention that intersex people exist, and that saying that is important — especially since you take the time to mention XXY and XYY and genetics. There are people whose genitals are ambiguous, or whose genitals present as classically ‘male’ and then go through a ‘female’ puberty (or the reverse). Sometimes doctors surgically alter their genitals to fit into the narrow female/male boxes. Sometimes they have no idea until puberty.

Some of those people identify as trans. Some of them don’t. All of them are worth mentioning, in a post that talks about not just the gender binary, but about societal definitions and how doctors assign sex/gender at birth.

I am not intersex, nor am I knowingly friends with intersex people who choose to share intimate details of their lives with me, but I do consider their lives important, and I want to be sure people are educated to the minimum knowledge: Intersex people exist, and that’s another binary broken.

(fun fact! the term for ‘not intersex’ is perisex. I don’t know how they decided on that, but I know it to be true.)

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Comment on TERF Wars by Thomas https://thewritingwolf.wordpress.com/2019/06/26/terf-wars/#comment-4028
Fri, 28 Jun 2019 14:50:52 +0000http://thewritingwolf.wordpress.com/?p=6993#comment-4028Hmm, I’d say discrimination is independent of intent. The definition I know just says that discrimination occurs when one treats somebody differently because of a characteristic (like gender). That being said, I’m sure that “TERF authors“ don’t have bad intentions. They just want to protect their ingroup.
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Comment on TERF Wars by Darren Lipman https://thewritingwolf.wordpress.com/2019/06/26/terf-wars/#comment-4027
Fri, 28 Jun 2019 14:45:40 +0000http://thewritingwolf.wordpress.com/?p=6993#comment-4027Thank you so much, Thomas! I appreciate the positive affirmation. :)

I’m not sure if I would call TERD discrimination, although I do think there are discriminatory aspects to the messaging and perspectives I’ve seen. I don’t know these individuals well enough to know their intent, but discrimination depend upon intent? I suppose it might be the distinction between de factor segregation and de jure segregation…

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Comment on TERF Wars by Thomas https://thewritingwolf.wordpress.com/2019/06/26/terf-wars/#comment-4026
Thu, 27 Jun 2019 20:56:53 +0000http://thewritingwolf.wordpress.com/?p=6993#comment-4026Wow, all your posts I’ve read so far have been so differentiated and thoughtful, I will come back for more! Also thanks for introducing me to TERF, I also think that this kind of discrimination (can we can it that?) has to stop. Sex, gender, and orientation (among others) are definitely unrelated in a single person (even though there are correlations on the societal level, but they’re not really relevant for the combination of these factors within an individual). Also a warm thank you to Cole for sharing!
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Comment on Screwed at a Festival by Thomas https://thewritingwolf.wordpress.com/2019/06/13/screwed-at-a-festival/#comment-4014
Wed, 19 Jun 2019 17:25:28 +0000http://thewritingwolf.wordpress.com/?p=6982#comment-4014Hmm, tricky, you’re raising interesting and difficult questions! While I wish everybody to be as comfortable as possible, the motivation should be (imo) that living together becomes as good as possible. But a certain threshold of discomfort should never be overstepped to achieve that aim. Vague, I know, but that’s the best I can do for now.
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Comment on Screwed at a Festival by Darren Lipman https://thewritingwolf.wordpress.com/2019/06/13/screwed-at-a-festival/#comment-4013
Wed, 19 Jun 2019 15:37:03 +0000http://thewritingwolf.wordpress.com/?p=6982#comment-4013Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Thomas! There’s definitely a balance to be found, but I wonder what should motivate that balance: should we do only what makes the majority comfortable, or should we accept that discomfort is a natural part of the learning process and human growth? If we do accept that, the new question becomes how much discomfort is “appropriate,” and that’s much harder to answer.
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